Category Archives: Seafood

Take Five with Chef Gaston Acurio of La Mar in San Francisco, Who Dropped Out of Law School to Cook

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Chef-Owner Gaston Acurio of La Mar. (Photo courtesy of the chef)

Chef Gaston Acurio is probably more recognized in other parts of the world than he is in the United States. But no doubt that will change in the coming years as the 43-year-old chef expands his already impressive culinary empire further in this country with his bold take on contemporary Peruvian cuisine.

Acurio, who has 32 restaurants in 14 cities around the globe from Lima to Sao Paulo to Santiago, staked his first foothold in the United States two and a half years ago when he opened the lively La Mar Cebicheria on San Francisco’s Embarcadero with its striking turquoise sea-blue decor. In August, he will open his second La Mar in the United States — this one in New York’s Madison Square Park in the former Tabla restaurant site.

Last week, when Acurio was in town to work on new dishes at La Mar San Francisco, I had a chance to sit down and talk with him about his new partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, his future plans in San Francisco, and how his politician father came to terms with the fact that his only son was not going to follow in his footsteps.

Q: Is it more challenging to open restaurants in the United States than elsewhere?

A: No, our experience with San Francisco was great. The people in San Francisco love to eat and they recognize good food. In a lot of cities, you might go out to eat before you do something else. Here, you go out to eat just to go out to eat.

People here are also very open to trying new things. It’s not like trying to start a restaurant in Italy or Paris. Nobu closed his restaurant in Paris after only one year. Parisians just don’t want to spend $150 on ethnic food because they are proud of their own food. The same is true in Italy. Those are challenging places to open restaurants.

Q: Will you open more restaurants in the United States after the New York one is up and running?

A: Of course. We are looking right now in Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.

The presence of Peruvian food in the United States is just getting started. We have a big responsibility to do it well or else we will close the door to those who come after us.

Q: Are most Americans confused about what Peruvian food is?

A: Most are. Peruvian food has five big influences: Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, African and Inca/South American. Cebiches are our flagship like sushi for the Japanese. Our stews are European-like. Our sauces are like African ones. And herbs and chilies are very important in our cuisine.

La Mar cebiche clasico made with halibut, habanero, and Peruvian corn and yam. (Photo courtesy of La Mar)

Q: With your partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, you will have ‘Seafood Watch Guides’ available for the public at your restaurants and you will serve only sustainable seafood at all of your restaurants? How challenging will that be?

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A Fish Story in Napa

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Ahi tartare with lovely pine nuts.

This is not about the one that got away. It’s about the lunch that hooked me.

Fish Story, which opened late last year in downtown Napa along the Napa River, is all about sustainable seafood. The restaurant is part of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group, which has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program. Seafood Watch pocket cards are available for the taking at the hostess stand. The menu is printed daily because it adheres to what’s fresh, available and eco-friendly.

Last month, I was invited to dine as a guest of the restaurant, which evokes the spirit of the ocean in its decor. There are fish tanks, and fish murals that are reminiscent of aquariums. Fish lures dangle from the ceiling. And a raw bar behind glass is on view with crab, oysters and clams all arrayed on ice. It sounds kitschy, but it’s actually appealingly modern with large windows overlooking the river.

Lightly battered and fried calamari.

We started with fried Monterey Bay calamari ($10.50), the rings and tentacles hot, crisp and just a little spicy. A nice touch were the slivers of pepper and thin lemon slices that also had been fried and heaped on top of the calamari. A creamy roasted tomato aioli came alongside for dipping pleasure.

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Terrific Tuna

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A silky lemony sauce coats every strand of these heavenly noodles.

Canned tuna doesn’t normally elicit a whole lot of excitement. Mostly, you grab it mindlessly out of the cupboard because it’s convenient for making a quick salad, sandwich or casserole that you’ve made a hundred times before.

But imagine a canned tuna that actually makes you sit up and take notice not only because it has really deep seafood flavor, but also because it is low in mercury and is caught in a sustainable way.

That’s what Raincoast Trading canned tuna is all about.

Indeed, Greenpeace Canada just released its first sustainability ranking of 14 major canned tuna brands. Only two garnered a passing grade: Wild Planet Foods and Raincoast Trading.

A canned tuna to feel good about eating.

The Vancouver, Canada company is run by a fourth-generation fishing family that catches wild-caught tuna and salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Each batch of tuna is tested for mercury, a heavy metal present in almost all seafood that can be harmful in large doses for pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children. The amount of mercury in Raincoast Trading’s tuna registers well below the allowable levels in the United States and Canada, according to a company spokesperson.

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Chocolate on the Half Shell?

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A white chocolate truffle infused with oysters. I kid you not.

It’s not every box of chocolates that comes bearing a label that reads: Contains milk, soy, pistachios, shellfish.

Uh, say what?

Leave it to Vosges, the cutting-edge chocolatier of Chicago, to come up with a truffle made with cream that’s been infused with Kumamoto oysters.

After all, this is the same chocolate-maker that’s found a way to incorporate bacon, Hungarian paprika, dried Kalamata olives, and Taleggio cheese into confections in the past.

And what could be more perfect for Valentine’s Day than a truffle that is flavored with what’s considered one of the most potent aphrodisiacs around?

Recently, I had a chance to try a sample.

A truffle rolled in dried rose petals.

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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Elegant Crackers and Dip for New Year’s Eve

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So thin and so crisp.

You could almost float away on these crackers as they’re so thin, light and delicate.

34° Crispbread is a wonder — round, fragile wafers that are made from whole wheat flour, salt and natural cheese flavor, then baked until shatteringly crisp. The name comes from the latitude of Sydney, Australia, where company founder Craig Lieberman hails from. The product is inspired by his favorite Australian crispbread.

Now made in Boulder, Colo., the crackers come in six varieties: Whole Grain, Natural, Sesame, Cracked Pepper, Rosemary, and Lemon Zest. They’re sold at Safeway, Whole Foods and Walmart. Nine crackers have a total of 35 calories. A 4.5-ounce box is about $4.99.

I had a chance to sample a couple of boxes recently. I especially liked the Cracked Pepper variety with is subtle hit of spice. The crackers crumble easily so handle them gently. But they can stand up to the likes of charcuterie, cheese and all manner of dips if you spread them on with a knife rather than dunking them.

Sardine rillettes to whip up in 10 minutes.

I served them over the holidays to great acclaim with food writer and blogger superstar Dorie Greenspan’s “Sardine Rillettes.”

The recipe is from her new book, “Around My French Table” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

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